ing, for he was receiving twenty times their pay in gold and a thousandfold their glory and distinction for the same service. Of his troop whose name is now known but his own? Whereas his demagogic effulgence baptized him with national fame and carried him into a governor's chair, and has made him bold to anathematize those of better mind and morality for treason.

The ominous factor in this situation for our people is that war demagogues of this type are allowed to succeed. When a circus manager turns the public head with his violent fictions the worst result is that money changes hands and boys have fits; when the circus managers of war by the same violence to truth upset the public equilibrium and make the nation have fits and believe in war, it is for the purpose of transferring liberty and power from the people to themselves. This is the lowest demagogic chicane. How infamous that man is-and there are many such-who poisons the popular mind with military virus to obtain suffrages! He corrupts the people in order to make himself their master. To him it is quite indifferent if the policy of expansion destroys the priceless American experiment in self-government, provided he gratifies his personal ambitions. For the people it is the path downward to absolutism.

What has been said of this particular horn-blowing 'hero' may be said in their degree and measure of nearly all those of the military and semi-military profession who are blowing the bugles of expansion. They are blowing to hoist themselves. A general at the head of a regular army of only 25,000 men cannot feel himself a very monumental fellow and he does not like it. He wants at least a hundred thousand and Miles asks for it. A clerk asks annually for a promotion. A hundred thousand will be only a beginning, and Miles knows it. Every addition will be easier after the first. When the good work of imperial rule begins there will

be no stopping, and the generals of the army will become ever big

ger and bigger bustards. Is it any wonder that Miles throws his heavy moral weight in favor of expansion? The following words of his were not intended for buffoonery:

The wars of the past have had their objects, their achievements and glorious results. The last was in the interest of humanity and in behalf of a heroic people, who for many years have been struggling against cruel atrocities, oppression and the despotism of a cruel monarchy... There are other fields to conquer. The past has gone and the future opens the doors to greater responsibilities, and, I trust, to greater progress and prosperity. We are ascending to a clearer atmosphere, up to a higher mesa, where we should take a stronger position than ever before occupied by our government and people. We cannot longer confine ourselves to the narrow limits that governed us in the past. . . Our interests are national in the highest degree. They embrace two hemispheres. They involve the welfare of a hundred millions of the human race. We are getting to that time when we will require not only the ablest men but many of them in every department, to protect and administer the affairs of the nation.

How prophetically Miles spoke! There are other fields to conquer and we are now conquering them. The next act in our care of two hemispheres and a hundred million human beings was not long in coming. We engaged in a war that would decorate the record of filtered fiends, outraging the 'interests of humanity,' to humiliate and crush the independence of 'a heroic people, who for many years have been struggling against cruel atrocities, oppression, and the despotism of a cruel monarchy,' which we now excel in every particular. Now it is clear that general Miles is not honest, for having said his vibrant eulogy of our 'noble' war for Cuba he could not tolerate this infamous war against the Philippines without eating his words. He has eaten his words and that groveling act slits open his soul. When he palavered of our holy past and our holier future he was only out gunning for military game to fill the bag of general Miles.

At some famous Eat which he attended in Chicago (Oct. 19, '98), responding to a toast on the Consuming Capacity of the Army he said, "I believe that we should maintain such a physical force that we may be able to protect our citizens and our interests in any quarter of the

globe." Shafter's oration on A Conquering Hero bore the sentiment: "I believe that the repugnanec to a standing army of considerable size is rapidly growing less. And now that we are broadening our sphere of action and adding to our broad domains the islands of the sea, the necessity of a considerable increase in the armed forces of this country must be apparent to all thinking men.' Merritt declared, "We need a standing army of at least 75,000 men here in the United States; now that we have acquired these new territories, we shall need a few more.' And this was in December of '98.

The description of one bullying military politician and two or three humanitarian generals suffices for all of their kind who are seeking to raise themselves by a policy that will rend American freedom. They are to be believed as one would trust the honor of a rattlesnake in his bosom.

CHAPTER VI.

War For Sale.

1. A Windbag War-Factory.

During the closing days of March, 1898, the president of the United States was conducting negotiations with Spain which would have ended in the freedom of Cuba and avoided war. Congress on its part had determined that there should be a war and that if the president could not be driven to declare it the game should be taken out of his hands and the two Houses would precipitate conflict in spite of him. Both houses of congress concurred in this sentiment, both political parties in Washington were intent upon forcing the executive to act or throwing him over. The Republican members vied with the Democratic members, and the Democrats prodded the Republicans for dalliance. These politicians saw an opportunity for political capital and they raised the war whoop like feathered Apaches.

With later events before our eyes it is fascinating to recall what great men said on the subject of war at that time. Senator Cullom, a member of the Foreign Relations Committee, gave out these words:

I do not see how we can avoid a war with Spain. The feeling on the floor of the Senate is intense. It looks to me that if the President does not soon define some policy acceptable to Congress, it will proceed without him. This is a deplorable condition, and no one laments it more than I. There is almost a universal demand for action on the part of the Foreign Relations Committee. It will not unduly delay doing its duty. War will cost us thousands more

lives and millions of money. We can replace the latter, but we cannot restore the dead. Nevertheless, I am impressed with a solemn duty.. If our purpose was a sordid one, we could not justify ourselves. To relieve suffering and make a people free is a noble deed. Upon that plea shall we find justification for our acts.

All kinds of resolutions of war were thickly rained in the House and Senate and these men who had the honor and care of the nation in keeping enjoyed the maddest military frolic. Men who ought to have foreseen that the military spirit if let loose would run the wildest courses, and ought to have stood immovable before the gale of congressional passion, fell in with the hurricane and added their encouraging breath. Senator Hoar said:

On the other hand, I have no patience and I have no respect for those critics who find in the conduct and action of many of my associates and friends on this floor what they are pleased to term a spirit of jingoism.*

Senator Tillman enounced the state of legislative feeling with the doggerel:

Populists, Democrats and Republicans are we,
But we are all Americans to make Cuba free.

"At least, I hope we are."

Grover Cleveland exhorted a great demonstration of Princeton students-"Stand by the country when she is right, and I am not so sure that we should not stand by her when she is wrong," impudent political immorality which many a mortified patriot has tried to pardon himself with since.

Bryan felt called upon to join the procession: "Yes," he answered to a representative of the press, "the time for intervention has arrived. Humanity demands that we shall act... War is the final arbiter between nations when reason and diplomaccy are of no avail... Spain might not resist intervention... But whether she resents intervention or not, the United States must perform a plain duty. Our own interests justify intervention.”

The politicans of all breeds and shades were practically united, the president was forced, and the mine was fired which not only emancipated Cuba but exploded American traditions and filled our veins with Spanish blood and ferocity. For all that followed on as a result of that

*Speech in the Senate, April 14, 1898.